A Yearbook to Remember
by JustJustine014
Summary: Emma's mother took a secret with her to the grave, one that only Mrs. Moran knew. Now, Emma is out to find what her mother kept from her, even if it risks losing the one last good memory of her biological family.
"Are you sure you're ready, Emma?" Gia asked. The two of them were sitting on the floor in the living room, right next to the yearbook Mrs. Moran gave them. According to her mother, Mrs. Goodall had a secret that she never got to announce. Supposedly, their answer was in Mrs. Goodall's high school yearbook. They both had no idea what was going to be in it except for a few forgotten signatures from the people they used to know along with a few embarrassing pictures of their parents.

"There's something my mom never told me before she died. I need to know what it is."

"What happens if it's bad?"

"I don't know." Emma bit her lip nervously. She had been thinking about what her mother could have possibly hid from her. There were a few instances where her mom left at night without a word, but assumed that it was just to take a breather. Work was stressful and nurturing a family constantly could get pretty tough too. Sometimes, it was necessary to step away and have time to do whatever she pleased. Most of those times, she and Gia's mother would simply go out to dinner or watch some chick flick that their husbands would never watch with them. But maybe there was more to it.

Gears spun inside Emma's head in an attempt to satisfy her curiosity. There was no way her mother would cheat on her dad. Her father turned out to be a total douche, but her mother did love him. Someone as loving as her mother would never have an affair. Although, one thing she did notice was that her mother was taking more medication than usual. And the weird thing about it was that she tried doing it discreetly. One day, Emma came home and caught her mother taking a few strange pills. When her mom saw her, she seemed to panic a bit and quickly stuffed them away. Back then, Emma didn't think about it too much, thinking that her mother was just taking her allergy medication. But then again, no one would panic in the slightest about getting caught taking allergy pills. Gia's mother mentioned that they used to do some crazy things. Obviously Gia's mother didn't take drugs, but maybe her own mother did.

Thinking back even more, Emma remembered her mother's face getting a bit disfigured over time. When her mother came home, she was also a lot more tired and sluggish than usual.

"No!" Emma thought to herself and shook her head in an attempt to get the negative thoughts out. She had the real answer right in front of her. There was no need to taint her mother's legacy. Her mother was a good woman.

"Well then, it brings me back to my first question, are you sure you're ready?" Gia asked.

"I need to do this." she responded. With a deep breath, Emma opened up the yearbook. She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, so she carefully looked at each page. Small smiles escaped her lips at the sight of her parents' prom pictures. They looked so young and carefree, happy that nothing in the world was weighing them down.

"Oh my god, is that my Dad?"Gia laughed. She grabbed the yearbook and pointed to the picture of her dad with a bowl cut and glasses. "Why have I never seen this before?"

"I didn't even know he had glasses." Emma took a closer look at Mr. Moran's picture. She had never seen him wear glasses around the house and assumed that he had perfect vision.

"Same here!"

"At least Jennifer (she was still getting used to calling her that) doesn't look like she has a nest in her hair. I mean really, what was my mom thinking when she got that haircut?"

"I don't know, but woah, my mom had some poofy hair. It's like a miniature blonde cloud that confused my mom's head for the sky."

"Thank God she didn't pass that haircut to you."

"Wait, but my mom does have braces." Gia took a closer look at the picture. "And why are they green? Oh wait, no, that's just some spinach stuck in between her teeth."

"Okay, okay." Emma chuckled, trying to suppress her laugh. "Are we going to sit here to make fun of our parents all day or what?"

"I know, but c'mon… it's cloud hair and bowl cuts." Emma rolled her eyes. The pictures were funny and downright embarrassing, but she had something more important to do. After flipping through several pages, she found a large picture of a younger version of herself and her mother.

"Wait, I don't remember this picture being taken." Emma furrowed her brows.

"Um Em, you're like five in that one. Of course you wouldn't remember something like that." Gia pointed out.

"But after Mom died, I put all the pictures we took together into one giant album. I've never seen this one before. She must have put it in here before she died."

"Big deal," Gia shrugged her shoulders. "She managed to keep one photo to herself. What does that have to do with anything?"

Emma ignored her friend's comment and gently peeled the picture off. She turned it over and found something written on the back. Her eyes widened at the sight. It was her mother's handwriting. She desperately wanted to read it, but couldn't bring herself to make out the words. Her fear of finding out the truth started to haunt her in the back of her mind.

Gia noticed the pink ranger's hesitation and grabbed the photo from her hand.

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted?"

"I'm afraid, Gia." Emma sighed. "I'm afraid of finding out the truth. Your mom told me that something good came out of my mother dying. Was my mom so bad that Jennifer called my mother's death a good thing? What did she know that I didn't?"

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think. You're probably just over thinking it."

"Right before my mom died, she would always be out late and come home exhausted."

"Isn't that how every parent is after work?"

"I would catch her taking strange pills, ones that I had never seen before." Emma continued. "What's even weirder was that it seemed like she tried hiding it from me. I think… I think she was taking drugs." Emma brought her knees up to her chest and could feel her body shaking slightly. Saying it out loud made it sound even worse. She looked up to Gia with pleading eyes. "My mom… my mom would never do anything like that, right? She was a good person Gia. I just don't want to find out that she wasn't. Gia, what do I do?"

Gia pulled Emma closer and gave her a loving squeeze. To be honest, she had no idea how Emma felt. She grew up with a pair of loving parents that cared to her every need. Emma had the opposite. She had no idea how to sympathize with something like this. She didn't even know how to make her friend feel better and she hated it. Finding out that her only loving parent wasn't the woman she imagined must've wrecked her. It would take away the last good memory of her biological family. Based on Emma's description, her mother definitely wasn't telling her everything. There was something that Mrs. Goodall hid on purpose. But maybe it wasn't as bad as Emma was imagining it to be.

"I can't tell you what to do on this one Em," Gia whispered into her ear. She slowly pulled away and offered her a comforting smile. "But I can tell you that you'll never find out unless you read what that note says. I'll be right here."

"Like you always are." Emma nodded. She straightened out the photo for the both of them to read together.

" _Dear Emma, I didn't have the heart to tell you in person, so I wrote everything in here. I left it in my yearbook and gave it to Jennifer. She already knows everything. Knowing me, I probably kept my sickness a secret until I couldn't handle it anymore. I promised myself that I would fight it until the very end, and I really did mean until the very end. There was no way that I was going to force myself to stay in a confined hospital. I don't know when you'll be reading this, but the only way you are must mean that I suddenly passed away. Emma, I have cancer. I'm terminal…"_

"My mom had cancer?" Emma paused for a moment, trying to process what she just read. It was all starting to make to make sense. "The medication and going out all the time, it was all because she had cancer.

"See, your mom isn't a jacked up, drug taking woman." Gia smiled, slightly relieved. After hearing Emma's thoughts about Mrs. Goodall taking drugs, she would've been lying if she said that she didn't consider it. "She probably didn't want you to worry, so she never told you."

"She should've told me! Dad didn't even tell me!"

"He probably didn't even know. My guess is that the only person who knew was my mother."

"Wait, then that means," Emma's face fell. "I would've lost my mom no matter what. Even if the car accident never happened, my mom still would've died."

"I know this is hard for you Emma, but look at the bright side, at least your mom didn't have to suffer for a long time."

"I know," Emma sighed. "It just sucks. My mom didn't deserve that."

"Life sucks." Gia said. "Just be grateful that she didn't have to suffer. My mom's aunt battled with cancer for two years and trust me, it wasn't pretty. They couldn't lift her up from the hospital bed without breaking one of her bones."

"Ouch," Emma winced. "That sounds painful."

"It was." Gia nodded. "Now come on, let's read the rest of this letter."

" _I'm sorry, Emma. I'm so so sorry. When I found out that my cancer was terminal, my heart broke. I wasn't sad because I was going to die, but because I knew that I would leave you all alone and without a mother. Emma, I'll be missing out on so much of your life. I won't be able to see you grow up. I won't be able to cheer you on during your high school graduation. I won't be able to watch you graduate college and grow up to become the great woman I know you'll be. I won't even have the chance to meet my future grandchildren. What's even worse is that I won't be able to scare away your first boyfriend! Man, I really wanted to be there for that part. I wish things could be different, but I've finally accepted that it's not. I may only have a few months left, but all of this doesn't mean that I won't stop loving you when I die. Even death won't stop me from caring about you. I want you to live your life to the fullest. Don't let my condition stop you from achieving your dreams. You dream a lot Emma, and you dream big. Dream bigger and reach for them. You'll be able to do anything you set your mind to. You're my flesh and blood and I know for a fact that we've never been the one to give up. I know you'll be perfectly fine without me. No matter how hard it gets, I want you to keep going, keep striving for excellence and do what makes you happy. I want to tell you so much more and teach you many more things, but I can't. If I could, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Please, when I'm gone, stick with the ones who love you. They'll help mend your broken heart and make things a bit easier. Words cannot express how much I love you and will miss you. Be strong my precious baby girl. Do it for me."_

" _Loving you always with all my heart, Mom."_

Emma couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She clutched the picture to her chest and let a few tears fall. Tears of joy and relief soaked her face. Now, her mother's death in the car accident didn't seem all too bad. It would make sense for Mrs. Moran to say that it was a good thing. Her mother would no longer have to go through the painful months of suffering. She wouldn't have to fight a battle that was already a lost cause. Not a day would go by where Emma wouldn't miss her mother dearly, but at least she finally knew the truth. Reading the letter gave her a sense of closure. It was as if she was talking to her mother one last time. For the first time, Emma finally felt at peace about her mother's death.

Emma quickly wiped away her tears and looked to the sky with a soft, gentle smile. "I love you too, Mom."

 _A/N: I'm going to be revising my old stories that I posted a while back. I was looking back and realized the numerous amounts of mistakes. I plan to go back and fix them, perhaps you can say that I'm rewriting this whole thing a bit. I just couldn't stand having the poor content any longer. So for now, no new stories will be posted until I finish up the revisions. Thanks for reading and if you can, please leave a review. I'd appreciate it! And also, have a wonderful Happy Mother's Day! Cherish your mothers and the ones you love!_


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